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Winter on Mount Kippure, ©John O’Grady 2014
Oil on deep edged Panel, 9.5″ x 7″ x 1.5″
(approx 24.5 cm x 18 cm x 4 cm, no need to frame and ready to hang)
SOLD
This is the second painting of Mount Kippure high in the Wicklow Mountains. The first one was of Autumn.
Clearly this is Winter when a dusting of snow has covered the bog and more is expected as the clouds in the distance suggest another front is moving in.
In winter 2010, the temperature dropped to -15 degree centigrades which is unheard of in Ireland. I wanted to get that bitterly cold feeling in the painting. I remember the skies heavy with snow that had a bruised foreboding colour and of course, the Wicklow mountains and particularly Sally Gap were impassable.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Dear John
Now this is a painting I really, love the colours look so good Well done.. It has inspired me to start again . Happy Christmas
Jane
Hello Jane,
Thank you for your comment. That’s great that it has given you a little bit of inspiration. I wish you lots of great painting in 2015. Never give up! Kind regards John
Hi John!
Brrrr! Feel cold with your painting 😉
No, not in reality! It looks like a real (Irish) winter, but not scaring, more saying: Life is becomimg a bit harder now, but beautiful as well. A friend of mine, living in Co Cork told me that the winter 2010 was his worst, because Ireland’s south was not prepaired to find such an amount of snow and ice in the streets. Most days he left his car behind to wander to his house upwards in the hills… I am lucky to visit Ireland in summer 🙂
What I like with your painting is the emptiness and are the textures in the snow, skiing people and animals left them.
I wish a merry and wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year for you…
But I think there will be a new painting from you inbetween. Am I right?
With a smile from Frauke
(There is no snow in Hamburg jet!)
Hello Frauke
Glad to hear that Hamburg is avoiding the snow, although when it lies across the land like a blanket it is so beautiful and pristine.
Yes your friend is spot on, 2010 was an incredible winter, so cold but oh so special with a white Christmas and because of the weather conditions everyone had to slow down which of course at xmas is so rare. Everything was so quiet as well Frauke, which made it all the more special, although terrible for people sleeping rough.
Thank you for your thoughts on the painting, that part of the Wicklow mountains is bleak and empty even in Summer but also beautiful.
Yes I think another couple of posts before Christmas hopefully. Thanks for your comment Frauke and I wish you and all your nearest and dearest all the best for the coming year.
I am too familiar with this kind of cold, John, and I was surprised to see that this is an Irish landscape. The brittle, icy air; the threatening sky; the snow and frozen earth crunching underfoot. You have captured it all perfectly. The restrained palette and precise brush work provide a master class in atmosphere. Wow.
When I made the painting Josephine, I thought of what you had experienced last winter with the heavy snows and freezing temperatures.
This painting of 2010 was a freakish Christmas and a very special one as it really was such a peaceful time, as the infrastructure was not in place to deal with the conditions a lot of things ground to a halt.
Thank you for your comment on the painting, hopefully it captures a little of ‘brittle icy air’. Of course the bog is a perfect foil to paint snow and freezing condtions against with lights against darks and the heavy brooding clouds. It is quite successful i think in capturing the atmospheric conditions particularly in the distance on Kippure.
I do agree John – you have been successful in capturing the atmosphere. It is a somewhat bleak outlook but one touched by human contact. It is still, frozen and quiet but the way the snow is shown in patches suggests a strong wind lifting it and moving it about. This and the heavy sky may mean more on the way. The Mountain itself is beautiful.
Hello Christine,
Thank you for your comment. I was happy with the atmosphere and distance on the mountain and the general atmosphere in the painting.